Everybody must get stoned

Posted by Bob on November 06, 2001

In Reply to: Everybody must get stoned posted by ESC on November 06, 2001

: : : : Is there a word for the large stones which were placed in front of vulnerable walls to protect them from damage by passing vehicles (originally horse-drawn)? You can see them in archways or against corners of buildings.

: : : Haven't found it yet. But while we're on the subject, here are some of the entries under "stone" in one reference:

: : : Top stone of structure or wall -- capstone.
: : : Lintel stone on top of column to support arch -- summer.
: : : Stone on which column or statue rests -- plinth.
: : : From "The Writer's Digest Flip Dictionary: for when you know what you want to say but can't think of the word" by Barbara Ann Kipfer, Ph.D., (Writer's Digest Books, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2000)

: : I've been looking too. Couldn't find it in the Macmillan Visual Dictionary. A search on Google using "architecture" + "terms" turned up some architectural glossaries; they are long, and one could go through them one word at a time.

: My visual dictionary has a castle and its various structures. But nothing like the inquiry describes. I didn't have any luck with Web sites.

I can't find the word either. It's a common thing: if your house faces a street that takes a sharp turn, you can use a boulder to ward off teenage drivers, or drunk drivers, or (worst of all) both. In the absence of a word, we can invent one: bumperlith? deflectorock? rollerstone? crashaway?